A TIDE of fury swept Scotland's prawn fleet yesterday after it was revealed that Ben Bradshaw, Britain's fisheries minister, had agreed to hand almost £2 million of the North Sea's lucrative prawn catch to German skippers to save the livelihoods of trawlermen in the south of England.

The deal - backed by Ross Finnie, Scotland's environment minister - will result in German prawn boats receiving 375 tonnes of the UK's share of the North Sea langoustine catch - primarily caught by Scottish trawlermen - in return for 150 tonnes of sole which will be used to aid 160 English boats operating in the southern North Sea.

The English boats, the majority based along the coast from Lowestoft to Folkestone, were facing being driven out of business because of new European Union restrictions on their catches of endangered skate and ray.

The swap deal was rushed through without any consultation with the Scottish prawn skippers who will be hit by the agreement.

Last night, leaders of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation reacted with anger at the loss of £1.8 million in potential income for the economically vital langoustine fishery.

Bertie Armstrong, the federation's chief executive, accused Mr Bradshaw and his officials of "high seas robbery" and riding roughshod over long-standing agreements on consulting the industry on international swaps.

"We are astonished that this was done without any reference to the industry that actually fishes the quota," he said. "Swaps are done visibly within the sector that is affected. But this is a deal for fish to be given to benefit another fleet in another place that was catching an endangered species. This is an unconsulted fait accompli."

Mr Armstrong said the value of swap, taken from Scottish prawn boats, was about £1.8 million. But he stressed: "The money is not the point, it's the principle."

Richard Lochhead, the shadow Scottish fisheries minister, also attacked the deal. He said: "It is an outrage that London-based DEFRA has smashed and grabbed Scotland's fishing quota to swap it for quota for fishermen south of the Border.

"This is just the latest illustration of how the UK sidelines Scotland and treats our fishing communities with contempt."

Mr Finnie, however, defended the agreement. He said: "It was difficult not to have some sympathy with the economic difficulties facing under ten-metre vessels in the southern North Sea. In these exceptional circumstances, I reluctantly agreed to an international swap with Germany."

A spokesman for DEFRA explained that a 25 per cent by catch limit to protect endangered skate and rays had left the 160 small boats in the south in danger of going out of business.